Foxx: Hagan race tests N.C. Dems

As North Carolina Democrats come to terms with across-the-board losses they suffered on Election Day, they are also gearing up for a 2014 fight to defend Sen. Kay Hagan, said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, one of the state’s most visible Democrats.

“It’s gonna be one of the biggest Senate races in the country,” said Foxx in a Saturday interview with POLITICO. “And that’s going to be a fight.”

On Election Day, North Carolina elected its first Republican governor since the 1980s — Pat McCrory — by double digits, in a state where both chambers of the state house are controlled by the GOP, and one that went to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney despite Charlotte’s hosting of the DNC. Republicans also gained three congressional seats, giving them nine of the 13 congressional districts.

“I think it’s incumbent on North Carolina Democrats to do what national Republicans are doing, which is to huddle up and figure out what happened and to think about what the implications are and what needs to happen going forward to build a case for progressive politics in North Carolina,” said Foxx, who was in Washington for the Inauguration, as well as a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Foxx, a rising star in the Democratic Party, acknowledged that Democrats “got wiped out,” something he attributes in part to redistricting; and in part to mishaps tied to the state party, including allegations of a sexual harassment against a state party leader. But he cited Obama’s relatively narrow loss of North Carolina, by fewer than 100,000 votes, as a reason for Democrats to keep up hope.

“Interestingly enough, the presidential race was one of the more optimistic aspects of 2012,” he said. “The president lost North Carolina, ultimately, but only by 92,000 votes. … So, it’s clear that Democrats can be competitive in North Carolina, but we’ve just got to have a different message. And I do think you’ll see a new generation of North Carolina politicians engaging in statewide races.”

When asked whether he would seek a statewide position, Foxx responded, “Who knows?”

“I have such a full plate doing what I’m doing, I don’t want to put myself ahead of where I am,” he said. “But I do think this is gonna mark a generational change and that could be a good thing for the Democratic Party.”